Use of Section 21 evictions in the PRS – Debate

Reply to the comment left by Sue Twyford at 22/11/2018 – 12:48
Once the tenant has been successfully evicted by the Country Court Bailiffs write to the Judge and request that a CCJ is registered against the tenant. This will assist in protecting other landlords from renting to the tenant and is one of the few avenues open to landlords in identifying a bad tenant. Plus a CCJ impacts on them negatively regarding their credit history.
You can check that the CCJ is registered by contacting [email protected]
Also upload the tenant to Tenant Referencing. Those of us who know the site find it invaluable.

Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 22/11/2018 – 13:30
Many LAs will pay direct to LLs if it is a condition of the TA. Even those I inherit with no such clause, I write to state it a condition of their *continued* tenancy (assuming they’re out of the fixed term). Consequently I receive on of the largest four-weekly HB payments in the UK.

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 22/11/2018 – 20:23“Once the tenant has been successfully evicted by the Country Court Bailiffs write to the Judge and request that a CCJ is registered against the tenant.”
A judge does not have the power to do this.

It is an urban myth unfortunately.

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 23/11/2018 – 05:42
I am proof that it is NOT an urban myth. I wrote to the Judge directly and received the following “we can confirm that Judgement has been entered as requested”. I then followed up the confirmation by seeking proof from the Registry Office.
However, the CCJ was only registered 2 months after her eviction. Had I not pursued this, the tenant would have escaped all responsibility for her arrears by having a clear credit record and I was not prepared to accept that.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 22/11/2018 – 16:00
That’s just what I was thinking. My council will never disclose anything about a tenant’s finances unless the tenant has signed to agree disclosure to me. Quite rightly so. As Lord points out, many tenants may move on to receiving benefits and landlords will never know until a problem occurs.

Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 22/11/2018 – 18:29
It sounds like you went above and beyond the call there! Your council seems to be rather more helpful than mine! Just shows most things are at the mercy of a postcode lottery

Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 22/11/2018 – 18:29
Hi LOTM
You write: “If the Council didn’t play ball they would have been guilty of allowing the misappropriation of government funds to continue.” I am pretty sure that is not how they saw it and they were not concerned about any legal sanction for NOT disclosing to a private landlord details of the tenant’s benefits claim. Well done to you for browbeating the Council but as Annie Landlord (at 11.11am) says most councils won’t disclose such information.

It is a well known fact that something like 90% of private tenancies are ended by the tenant – this was quoted in the most recent English National Housing Survey and is also mentioned in the Homelessness and
the Private Rented
Sector report sponsored by Manchester Metropolitan University:
“In reality, most tenancies last considerably longer [than the fixed term] – 3.9 years on average (MHCLG, 2018) – and the
overwhelming majority of tenancies are ended by tenants rather than landlords. ”
As has other comments on here mention most of the 10% of tenancies that are ended by the landlord are for a good reason – very, very few of these will have been ended simply because the landlord changed their mind or other frivolous reasons, and I’ve no doubt the real rogue landlords simply tell tenants to get out or even threaten them.
So basically, a radical change of policy is being proposed that will have profound negative consequences for small private landlords, tenants and housing supply, simply to mollify public perception, over a problem that has been grossly exaggerated.

Can I encourage other landlords to email your thoughts on the debate about ending S21 to Karen Buck?
[email protected]
You will receive an automated response saying if you are not a constituent she won’t be able to help. But don’t worry, that’s a standard parliament auto reply. I have received direct confirmation from Karen Buck today that she has received my email, so its definitely worth doing.
The backbench debate is taking place on December 6th.

Karen Buck actually quotes a P118 member in the commons during this debate, although attributes it to a social media member rather than the actual poster (which was H R – I think (?))
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-12-06/debates/21A6B725-C6F7-4A0A-8BE9-D839A5C8D3BB/Section21Evictions#contribution-5F93457D-4978-429C-B0CD-0BB559B7004A
It’s in her 4th speech of the debate.